Modularity is used widely in telephone communication systems. In a modular system, a modular plug which terminates an end of a telephone cord is inserted into a cavity of a modular jack which is mounted in a wall outlet or in portions of customer station equipment. Typically, a home is equipped with any number of wall outlets each of which includes a modular jack. This allows the customer to move a telephone from room to room ad allows the customer to purchase and to install new telephones and new cords as desired.
A typical telephone wiring system includes a network interface device, a plurality of wire junction devices and wall outlets distributed about the rooms of a home, for example. Inside wiring which includes a relatively small number of insulated conductors enclosed in a plastic jacket is run from an entry junction device which is fed from the interface to a plurality of wall outlets. A line is also run from the entry wire junction device to another junction device to which additional wall outlets are connected. Typically, the plastic jacket must be removed from each end of a length of inside wiring to permit connection of the conductors to the junction devices and wall outlets. There has been a desire to improve the just-described system to simplify the wiring and to provide multiple circuit paths to each wall outlet to decrease the probability of service outage.
Another problem which is addressed by the tricoupler of this invention comes about because of a change from past practices with respect to inside wiring. For many years, installation service was provided by a telephone operating company to each customer premises as requested initially with wiring runs to additional rooms as requested subsequently. Each additional outlet required a visitation by a craftsperson of the telephone operating company. With the advent of modularity, it no longer became necessary for a craftsperson to visit customer premises to connect a telephone into the network. However, this was only true if modular outlet devices had been provided in or on the walls. This led to programs intended to pre-wire customer premises for telephone usage with modular outlet devices positioned in preselected locations during the construction of the premises. Other developments in telephone communications have led to the probable situation where inside wiring may be installed by craftspeople other than telephone operating company personnel.
These developments have led to the desire for more simplistic devices for use in modular wiring systems. Goals include the use of lengths of inside wiring which have been terminated with modular plugs. The plugs which terminate the wiring may be secured to the wiring in a factory environment or in the field. The lengths are connected end to end inside walls with the use of a coupler such as that disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,,268,109 which issued on May 19, 1981 in the name of E. C. Hardesty. An end of each run of wiring should be easily connectable to the sought-after wall outlet device to which a plug of customer station equipment is also connectable. The sought-after device also should be capable of being mounted externally of a wall, such as along the baseboard molding, for example.